The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a challenge by a group of plaintiffs who opposed Bayer’s effort to resolve tens of thousands of Roundup lawsuits through a $7.25 billion state court class action settlement.
The objecting plaintiffs had argued that a state court had no power to fast-track a nationwide resolution of those lawsuits, and that the case should be heard by a federal judge who is already overseeing consolidated federal lawsuitsthat allege the company’s Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.
But a different federal judge ruled in June that the case should stay in Missouri state court, and the 8th Circuit agreed.
Ashley Keller, the lawyer for the objecting plaintiffs, said he would fight the company’s settlement proposal in the state court, which has scheduled a September 14 hearing to consider approving the deal.
“We still oppose the deal,” Keller said. “We will argue our objections in state court next month and leave all options open for appeals of adverse rulings, if any.”
The 8th Circuit’s dismissal puts the case firmly back in front of a state court judge who granted preliminary approval to the settlement, and prevents litigation over the deal from being transferred to a federal judge who has criticized the settlement proposal.
Bayer is facing about 65,000 claims in US state and federal courts from plaintiffs who say they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma and other forms of cancer after using Roundup at home or on the job.
Monsanto said it was pleased with the 8th Circuit’s decision to reject a “baseless” effort to disrupt the class action proceedings in state court. The company said it is confident that the settlement is “fair to all parties” and warrants final approval.
Bayer, which acquired Roundup when it purchased Monsanto in 2018, has said that decades of studies have shown Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, is safe and does not cause cancer.
The class action settlement, announced in February, aims to resolve most current and future Roundup claims in the US.
While the settlement was pending, Bayer won a Supreme Court appeal over the adequacy of Roundup’s warning label, undercutting one of the central legal claims in the Roundup cases.
